Blog

Holi Powder Photoshoot

Great things start with a fantastic prop and an idea. However, I needed a few more things to conspire before I could take the plunge for this photoshoot...

The weather has been unseasonally unpleasant recently, with constant wind and rain ruining my plans for putting my photoshoot into action. Time dragged on, the original model was no longer available and the rape fields were not at their best. The shoot seemed doomed before it had even begun, yet in my head there was still a carnival of exploding colour just begging to be photographed.

As you may recall, for my UV photoshoot I used an amazing headdress from Paradise Gypsies. Well, I now wanted to use the headdress along with vibrant Holi powder, the kind used in the glorious Indian festivals. In my head, the shoot looked amazing, bright colours, cool poses, an amazing landscape and music booming away. As is so often the case in life, the reality was somewhat different. I now know that I needed at least three times as much powder, it needed to be thrown from much closer, permission to shoot at the location might have been advisable (!) and, in the event, I had no music. But if you don't try, you never know.

To stand in a field and allow powder to be thrown in your face is a big ask of anyone. I am so pleased that two young ladies stepped up to the plate and trusted me enough to do just that. Sarah Nix went first - as she posed with her arms outstretched, powder flew through the air covering her in layers of different colours. We had to work through the poses quickly due to the rapidly setting sun - we literally had about an hour of daylight to play with. As I said, this had been the only window of opportunity because of the bad weather and I did not want to let it slip away.

Now it was Annamaria Dollie Doré's turn to be pelted with the coloured powders. Before we threw them, I spent a few minutes working with the last dregs of sunlight as it dipped below the horizon, then brought in a flash to get to work with the Holi powder on model number two.

Invaluable assistance (throwing powder, holding reflectors and flashes) was provided by Jason Balchin and Andie Melvin-Harris, The models took turns to throw powder at each other too - how could anyone resist! If nothing else, it was a lot of fun :)

You can enjoy the colourful fruits of our labour by watching the slideshow below: